9 Ways For Naturopaths To Generate Leads on Linkedin

It seems every alternative medical practitioner is here on LinkedIn which is a great thing.  But unfortunately, I continuously see the same mistakes made by each one.  It’s hard to understand how social media can help promote your brand awareness and exposure.  Most NDs, acupuncturists, chiropractors and other alternative healers come to LinkedIn hoping to network and find opportunities for generating patient leads. In some cases, some of them don’t even know why they are here.  Sometimes it’s because they were advised that it was a great place to network but weren’t told how to use LinkedIn to its potential. Compounded by the fact that the majority also don’t develop a well defined strategy or incorporate all the features LinkedIn offers, in order to maximize their lead generation.  The great thing about the internet is you can change your strategy on a dime without missing a beat.

1. Get Active!

Don’t just connect and leave. Stay a while. Let’s chat. I see hundreds of the NDs I connect with don’t participate in any groups even with their own peers.  Connecting with people on LinkedIn and then never interacting with them is probably the biggest fail for all alternative medical practices.  Social media is about interacting and conversing. And yes, sometimes those people will be strangers but that’s the nature of the social media forum. We aren’t always going to be able to have those in person connections.

Join groups and participate. Post relevant content or even better develop your own original content.  Soon enough, we will all have the option to direct publish on LinkedIn.  Use that feature, it will help promote your practice and your personal brand.

2. Join groups not related to your field

LinkedIn allows you join 50 groups. Yet, every single alternative healer seems to only join those groups geared towards their fields.  Meanwhile, ignoring all the business connection groups that exist in their local geographic area.  I check on these groups often and what I find is a few smart NDs, acupuncturists and chiropractors have joined them. And a few of them are active in discussions.

When you join a group where you might be one of a few alternative healthcare practitioners, it gives you a huge boost above your competition because they aren’t there making connections. You are! And the best part about it is, just being active in social media and LinkedIn groups you are bound to have people reach out to you for advice and information. As well, when you belong to groups you can invite people to connect without personally knowing them. Be sure to personalize your invite and make it a value for both parties.

Joining groups that include local business owners in your area helps you network online with your local community. Offering local businesses to come in and speak to their employees about your specialty, whether its Naturopathy or acupuncture, helps put you in front of a handful to a few hundred people all from a free networking device called LinkedIn.

Utilize the Groups option to its fullest.  I usually pattern my groups like this.

10 industry groups

5 groups related but not necessarily in my industry

5 personal interest groups

10 local business groups

20 groups where my target audience is.

Change it up. Throw in 5 wild card groups, something out of left field, if they let you join great. Get in and start being a value to the group.

 

3. Put specialties in your summary and Title heading.  Use the space wisely and describe what you are an expert at.

 

4. Not enough Content

I can’t stress enough the importance of writing. Without writing you cannot establish yourself or your online resources as value driven. People want as much information as possible before making a decision, especially during the alternative healthcare sales cycle.

People also like doing business with someone who is considered an expert or thought leader in their field. Besides writing, all alternative medical practitioners should be investing in content.  Right now, animated video and educational videos will continue to dominate content.  Video will drive more traffic and shares than any other medium and in turn driving brand awareness.

LinkedIn allows you to add files to your profile.  This is where all the above mentioned content should be going.  The quicker you become personal to visitors of you profile the quicker you will establish rapport.

5. Not using Paid Advertising

Yes I know it’s supposed to be free. But with a reasonably small budget you can drive your brand into your local business community using sponsored posts and polls.  This is another place for some of your great content.

6. Not using a CRM to improve their outreach on social media

CRM? Woah? Now you want me to learn software. I went to school to help people heal, improve their well being.  That is all good and well, but in order to communicate and reach a wider audience and compete in a field that is quickly becoming competitive and popular at the same time, capturing business from social media requires the use of specialized software such as Hootsuite and Nimble.

7. Add a company page with rich and deep information

 

8. Long Winded

Keep it short and sweet doc.  I know a lot of Drs. are passionate about their field and have great journey stories. However, people’s time is limited so in your summary spot, keep it informative but not run on.  Let people go to your company page or website to learn more about your journey.  It will help drive curiosity and traffic.

 

9.S Stay Consistent

Social media and networking is not an overnight project. It takes time to find people and network and build those relationships.  Maintaining a continuous and relevant presence will eventually reward you with leads, referrals and income.  Optimal health, optimal networking, optimal income.  We all want the best for our practice and to reach as many people as possible with our message.   Staying consistent is the only way for that to happen.